I think I’m too aware of awards this year, it’s just TOO MANY awards from around the world.
The NBR has named David Fincher’s The Social Network the Best Film of 2010, as well as Best Director for Fincher and Best Actor for Jesse Eisenberg who played MovieZuckerberg.
Don’t really know how I feel about The Social Network — I liked it fine, but didn’t completely love it. I would say it’s a good movie, but it really lacked a personal point for me.
Anyway~~~ here we go~
Following AM’s advise on better blogging, I thought it’d be cool to follow through with my post on “What I Like about Japanese Cinema” which I wrote for the J-Film blog-a-thon last year.
So now I’m going to be talking about Hollywood movies! And by “Hollywood” I mean American films. Since I’m more familiar with commercial Hollywood stuff, while I’ve only begun catching indie flicks online (or when I was in Canada) for the past few years.
My current Facebook Flixster movie count says that I’ve rated 2431 films. Of course, that’s only counting the films that I’ve been able to find in their database (american, foreign, commercial, or indie), and I’m far too lazy to send them stuff now. My MUBI account states I’ve rated 1450, so that should give you a proper average… I think.
So what do I like about Hollywood Movies?
1. Ah… the Hollywood Golden Era.
I’m familiar enough with Garbo and Crawford to know that I loved their films. And it’s fact, LOL, Hollywood created movie stars, and actors went to Hollywood to become movie stars… and I love movie stars. I always complain now that they don’t make them like that anymore.
Sure, sure… people who aren’t into “old films” keep telling me that films in the era didn’t look as great as they do now, or that acting was weird, and that subject matter in films have improved since then. To them I tell them… well, 1986 is not that old. Try a film from 1929. ;P
2. No matter how Indie they are, they still look sharp and clear.
There’s something my mom always tells me when we, for some odd reason, end up catching a clip of any local – hint: non-American – film, “Why do films here look like they’re stuck in the 70s?”. It isn’t that the local cinema shows the great quality of films in the 70s, here they just look like they’re stuck with the technology.
It happens in American film, but not as often… and if it does, it’s because they’re really REALLY low-budget. But even really-low-budget filmmakers manage to bring a great DP on board. I mean, have you seen some of the stuff posted online? It’s amazing what people are doing with “I shot this with my Canon” LOL
3. You guys have mastered the art of pseudo-indie.
Right? I mean, you have also begun to call these films Hipster… in a mocking kinda way, but alright – I admit it, I tend to like them because well, to me, these films can only be American. I cannot imagine an Asian hipster film, I cannot imagine a European hipster film. Little Miss Sunshine, Juno – people say Juno reminded them of me, LOL – they can only be American.
But you guys have also mastered the art of making big budget films, and call them independent. I mean how on earth do you call Inglourious Basterds an independent film but spend $70M USD in making it. To me, that’s a big Hollywood movie – and I like it. LOL
4. Don Bluth, Disney, and Pixar
I grew up with Don Bluth’s and Disney animation. Now, I’m growing old with Pixar (oh, gawd… I’m growing old). I mean, anyone my generation who hasn’t grown up with Disney animation and Don Bluth’s work, they might not have had a childhood – unless, of course you’ve grown up with Studio Ghibli… in which case, hate you.
5. I love when you support World Premiere… even if it’s for sucky huge blockbuster films.
I’m an impatient gal, if I want to watch a new film over the weekend, it needs to open locally over the weekend, otherwise my enthusiasm for the film will wane, and I’ll just end up catching it on dvd – or worse, on cable.
Most major studios have offices in most major cities in countries, so now it’s easier to get a film to open on the same weekend as in the States. It just happened with that new Drew Barrymore rom-com, which opened one week after the US, and I’m pretty sure we’re getting Narnia and Harry Potter (not that HP is American, but it’s being distributed by Warner so…) the same day, or one day ahead. Now, if that could also happen with flicks like Black Swan, and other Award season flicks, I’d be a happy gal.
So… how about you guys? What do you guys like about Hollywood Movies/American Cinema? Or why do you hate it? I know some of you hate anything American with a passion. Such a tiring task. LOL
Ahh… I hope I can finish this post in less than 30min. LOL Or sure I’ll be whining with the people at Anomalous Material for posting so many Memes xD
But we’re lazy, so we’re doing a 31-day Meme into one post. Just like we did on the TV Meme… only with more pictures! Because I think that TV Meme needs photos, right?
1. A Sequel that Shouldn’t Have Been Made
You know there should be something wrong when all the sequels went straight to DVD. That’s a sad sad ending for a good cheesy film like Bring it On. The sequels bring so much shame when mentioning Bring it On, which by the way had Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku… and Gabrielle Union. And cheers. I said Brrrr it’s cold in here! There must be some Clovers in the atmosphere~~~ LOL a perfect introduction to setup what the cheese will be about, and a more poppy-end-of-the 90s-rendition of Hey, Mickey!
Is it wrong that a 1944 short brings back memories of childhood to me?
From my group of friends, I think I’m the only one that grew up with old Disney shorts, and sometimes I talk about them with a whole bunch of my friends wondering what I’m talking about.
Did any of you grow up watching this short? How old are you? xD
Maybe I’m not the only 20-something.
Anomalous Material just posted a Meme about 10 Things that Bring You Joy.
But before we start with mine… let me just say… “Forehead Titaes!” *giggles*
Okay, moving on… what are some of the things that bring me joy?
1. The sight of chocolate
In any shape or form. It doesn’t matter how pissy or how gloom I may be, I see chocolate and suddenly the world seems a better place. And forget about having a taste of the chocolate-y goodness.
I grew up with this Donald Duck short. LOL
Oh my gosh~ sooooo many memories, though I can’t remember whether I watched this on VCR, or if my dad had tape it on Betamax first. LOL, yeah. BETAMAX.
In this short, Spike the Bee… now old, reminisces of his friendship with a now old Donald Duck. They met while Donald made a living picking up trash from the park, and then became friends and business partners… until Spike met his now wife. The short ends up telling you “bros before bee-hos”
LOL B-Ho <- Mary Cherry.
Whatever your thoughts are about Toy Story, and Toy Story 2, if you got the chance to grow up and grow old with the Toy Story franchise, you’re going to feel like Toy Story 3 will be pulling your heart strings. I wasn’t emotionally attached to the franchise, and I still felt the nostalgic ending, quite reminiscent of the ending in the Winnie the Pooh books. That of having to grow up, and let go.
I don’t know if you had heard about Disney’s Rapunzel that suddenly got changed to Tangled. Anyway, the trailer for Tangled, the animated Disney film formerly known as Rapunzel, just hit the net.
And I’m loving it.
Especially because it’s set to Pink’s Trouble music.
I love that album, and that song rocks.
and the trailer is so SO funny.
[iframe width=”560″ height=”349″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/TrStddEYYn8?rel=0″]
Cinematical has an interesting post asking “What’s your Favorite Disney Animated Feature since Lion King?” To which I have always said that I’ve enjoyed many of them. Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch and The Emperor’s New Groove being possibly at the top of my list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U0xGBNl2fE
However, I have also enjoyed Treasure Planet — with it’s luscious sky-boarding animation. And I also remember I enjoyed Atlantis: The Lost Empire… though I don’t really recall a specific reason why. Maybe it was the bad guys and that most of the other characters were flawed.
I even went to the theater to catch Home on the Range, which I was disappointed it being the last ever 2D animated flick Disney was ever going to make… which it wasn’t. And I also enjoyed Brother Bear fine. I think Disney’s dismissal on the animation genre is that it ultimately began release straight-to-video 2d animated films making it seem like 2d Animation was no longer worthy of a theatrical release. Shame on you!
Add to that the fact that Disney characters weren’t ever really flawed, Aladdin was a thief (street rat) with a heart of gold~~~ Simba was a bit of a hothead, Quasi was… well, a hunchback… but that’s hardly a flaw. Tarzan didn’t speak English… but as storytelling advances and begins having characters that are good but not perfect, we want to see imperfect characters in a positive light. Characters like Mulan who was a little rebellious, and didn’t fit the mold she was supposed to fit, Kuzko who was selfish like no other… or Lilo who didn’t have many friends.
Also, check out Cinematical’s list of Disney Vets who should return to Disney.
Forgive the shameless reminder of Spice Girls. xD
I just got back from watching Alice in Wonderland~~
And how about it? TheAuteurs is showing a short film version of Alice in Wonderland done on 1903, if you would like to watch it (for FREE) just head over there. You will need an account.
